BRITAIN is sitting on an obesity timebomb that could cripple the National Health Service, researchers warned yesterday.

A study found that more than two million adults are eligible for expensive weight loss surgery.

Treating them all would cost the taxpayer £20billion.

Medical experts warned that wide-ranging action was needed to avoid the burgeoning obesity crisis from destroying the NHS.

Weight loss operations, such as the fitting of a gastric band or gastric bypass surgery, are available on the NHS to treat those with potentially life-threatening obesity.

About 8,000 people currently receive the treatment each year, at a cost of up to £11,000 each.

But researchers from Imperial College London have discovered that, with the nation getting fatter, more than five per cent of adults actually qualify for surgery – more than 2.1 million people in England alone. In the study of nearly 9,500 people, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, researchers found that surgery ­take-up rates were low.

Lead researcher Dr Sonia Saxena said: “Less than one per cent of those eligible have weight loss ­surgery each year.”

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Some 26 per cent of all adults in England are obese and a further 41 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women are overweight

The report added: “Due to the limited capacity of health services to meet demand under existing ­criteria, greater investment into service provision may be required to meet a growing need.”

Several factors contributed to surgery rates currently being so low, the study found, including those with greatest need for surgery being more often in the lowest socio-­economic groups and the least likely to use healthcare services.

Some 26 per cent of all adults in England are obese and a further 41 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women are overweight.

A recent study by the National Obesity Forum warned that earlier projections that half the UK ­pop­ulation would be obese by 2050 ­actually underestimate the problem.The lobbying group called for hard-hitting awareness campaigns, ­similar to the approach taken to cut smoking, to stem the problem.

Some surgical procedures are ­considered quick fixes, with up to a third of gastric band patients putting the weight back on. Robert Oxley of campaign group the TaxPayers’ ­Alliance said: “Britain cannot overcome its obesity crisis through costly surgery or government nannying.

“Individuals must take respon­sibility rather than look to quick fixes at the expense of taxpayers,” he added.